Friday, December 7, 2012

Conspiracy Theory: Was Gamal Abdel Nasser an Israeli Spy?

As a general policy, this blog doesn't operate on Friday, but what with the ongoing turmoil in Egypt, here's a quick anecdote.

At the first secret high-level Egyptian-Israeli meeting prior to Sadat's visit to Jerusalem in 1977, Egypt's Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Hassan Touhami asked Moshe Dayan for the truth about the previous Egyptian president, Gamal Abdel Nasser. According to the English-language summary of the meeting:

Touhami's opinion of Nasser was of extreme and hateful despise [sic]. He asked MD [Moshe Dayan] if Nasser had been in connivance with him when Nasser sent Abdel Hakim Amer with an airplane on an inspection tour just when our planes attacked at 08:00 on the morning of the 5th of June 1967.

The fact that the [Egyptian] Airforce was unprepared and its commanders were sanguine was explained by Touhami by the fact that Nasser was actually in conspiration with the Israelis. "Tell us the truth," Touhami requested seriously, "wasn't Nasser conniving with you at the time? Otherwise, how to explain what happened?" Touhami gave the appearance of rage and despise [sic] at Nasser, whom he described as having brought Egypt to the edge of calamity.